Gallium arsenide devices



1965 G. R. ARGUE ETAL 3,198,012

GALLIUM ARSENIDE DEVICES Original Filed March 29. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l x o no 2 1 LL h,

H SWHO 8 SWHO 3i OI INVENTORS Gary R. Argue Robert W. Haisty ATTORNEY 1955 G. R. ARGUE ETAL 3,198,012

GALLIUM ARSENIDE DEVICES Original Filed March 29, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.3.

e\ POWER SOURCE m GALLIUM ARSENIDE 5 PHOTORESISTOR VOLTAGE AMPLIFIER AC ERROR SIGNAL f TRANSISTOR CHOPPER DC ERROR L SIGNAL INVENTORS Gary R. Argue Roberf W. Haisty ATTORNEY United States Patent F Original application Mar. 29, 1961, Ser. No. 99,259. Divided and this application Sept. 18, 1963, Ser. No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 73-362) This invention relates to gallium arsenide detectors, and more particularly to thermistors and radiation detectors made from intrinsic-appearing gallium arsenide.

This is a division of patent application, Serial No. 99,259, filed March 29, 1961.

Thermistors and photoresistors have been made from silicon and germanium semiconductor materials as well as from compressed and sintered cadmium sulfide. The characteristic which is of necessity in photo diodes or conductors (sometimes referred to as photoresistors) and thermistors is the ability to change resistivity responsive to changes in temperatures or incident radiation. To obtain semiconductor material of sufliciently high resistivity at room temperatures to act as a changing impedance under the influence of temperature changes or light radiation changes, it is necessary for it to be high purity material, which in the case of silicon would contain not greater than impurity atoms per cubic centimeter.

L1 the prior art it has been recognized that the high purity or refinement of silicon or germanium resulted in intrinsic or high resistivity material which, as temperature increased, exhibited a resistivity decrease. In other words, temperature afiords sufficient activation energy to excite the valence electrons into the conduction band thereby decreasing the resistivity of the material. Actually, the activation energy necessary to excite these electrons into the conduction band is dependent on the Width of the forbidden energy band gap of the material because ditferent activation energies are required for different band gap materials. For silicon, the thermosensitive or photosensitive range of changing resistivity ends above 300 C. The forbidden energy band gap of silicon is 1.1 electron volts and a substantial number of the electrons will be in the conduction band at 300 C. thereby imparting low resistivity to the silicon.

One technique for making high purity, high resistivity germanium and silicon is the well known process of fioat zoning. In this method a multiplicity of float zones are passed through the material and the resistivity increases in gradual increments thereby becoming of higher and higher magnitude. To enhance the thermo-and photosensitive properties of silicon, one patentee (Taft. US. Patent No. 2,860,219) suggests introducing gold in concentrations less than 10 atoms per cu. cm. to provide higher sensitivity to the silicon with reference to resistivity in the range of temperature from minus 80 C. to plus 100 C. The photo conductive effect of the silicon impregnated with gold occurs in the temperature range from -100 C. to 200 C.

The well known Group IIIV compound semiconductors have been exploited by many for use in fabricating such devices as transistors, diodes, tunnel diodes, etc. The reason for exploiting these materials and, particularly, gallium arsenide is the fact that a greater latitude of operating characteristics can he achieved. For instance, gallium arsenide has a forbidden band gap of 1.35 electron volts. This wide band gap makes it feasible to operate devices at several hundred degrees centigrade higher than either silicon or germanium. Likewise, mobilities of electron carriers are much greater for gallium arsenide than for silicon or germanium. In accordance with the invention, devices such as thermosensitive and 3,198,012 Patented Aug. 3, 1965 ice photosensitive resistors'may be made which will operate at temperatures up to 1000 C. Heretofore one of the major problems involved in making such a device was the impracticability of obtaining high resistivity or intrinsic gallium arsenide. To be intrinsic, gallium arsenide should have total impurity carriers in concentrations not greater than 10" to 10 per cu. cm. which is five or six orders of magnitude lower than high purity silicon. Such purities in gallium arsenide are unknown.

. In the present invention, the necessity for obtaining intrinsic or impurity carrier concentrations in the range of 10" or 10 8 carriers per cu. cm. in gallium arsenide is unnecessary. The invention avoids actual intrinsic galliurn arsenide by providing a material which is intrinsicappearing but does not have low (10' to 10 carriers per cu. cm.) impurity concentrations. The gallium arsenide of this invention has total impurity concentration of 10 to 10 carriers per cu. em, but also has energy levels introduced therein at about .74 electron volt which is very near the Fermi level of actual intrinsic gallium arsenide.

The procedure for obtaining the gallium arsenide material of the invention is described by the following steps. First, the highest purity gallium and the highest purity arsenic obtainable are grown into acrystal of gallium arsenide. The crystal may be either extremely gallium rich or extremely arsenic rich, in other words, of nonstoichiometric proportions. Second, the gallium arsenide crystalline material is float zoned by well known techniques which incrementally increases the resistivity. After a varying number of passes have been made, perhaps five or six, the material suddenly changes from a resistivity range of about 1 ohm cm. to several megohm-centimeters. In other words, the gallium arsenide proceeds for a few passes in gradual incremental amounts to increase in resistivity and then all of a sudden its resistivity changes 6 or 7 orders of magnitude. Such change is completely unobserved in the case of silicon and germanium and is something totally unexpected.

Varying theories have been advanced to explain why the gallium arsenide becomes intrinsic-appearing in resistivity when, in fact, the donor or acceptor impurity levels are 6 or 7 orders of magnitude higher than would be considered high purity gallium arsenide or truly intrinsic gallium arsenide.

In the process heretofore mentioned, gallium arsenide compound semiconductor material is obtained having an energy level existing at approximately the center of the band gap. In other words, the gallium arsenide has an activation energy level of approximately .7 electron volts. Itis suggested that this middle of the forbidden band gap energy level readily traps electrons from the conduction band thereby increasing its resistivity. Thus, the material is intrinsic-appearing although it is not of the impurity concentration which is considered high purity gallium arsenide to make it truly an intrinsic material.

Although the precise mechanism occurring in the case of gallium arsenide is unknown, it is theorized that one of three possible occurrences creates the energy level of impurities that centers near the middle of the band gap. The first of these is that the gallium arsenide is nonstoichiometric having either an excess of arsenic or gallium. In this situation it is believed for instance, that the arsenic enters a gallium site in the crystal lattice structure having an energy level near the middle of the band gap of the gallium arsenide. Thus, the arsenic would act as a trapping impurity and cause higher resistivity of the material. Second, the deep lying trap having an activation energy in the middle of the band gap could be caused by elements such as oxygen or iron purposely doped into the gallium arsenide or mere- 1y present as a non-excludable impurity during formation of the compound semiconductor. Third, another phenomenon which could cause gallium arsenide to become intrinsic-appearing is the presence of some impurity such as copper, for instance, wherein the heat treating in the float zone process could cause the copper to diffuse to donor impurity sites and pair with the donor impurity thereby essentially neutralizing the electrical effect with a consequent increase in resistivity.

The three theories heretofore mentioned are presented as plausible explanations of why the invention creates high resistivity gallium arsenide which is intrinsic-appearing yet does not have sufiiciently low impurity concentrations to be considered truly intrinsic gallium arsenide.

Quite suprisingly it was discovered that float zoning removes to a lower concentration donor or acceptor impurities leaving trapping levels at activation energies of about half the forbidden band gap of gallium arsenide. Thus, the dominating impurities affecting the resistivity of the gallium arsenide are at energy levels of trapping impurities, and cause the material to be intrinsic-appearing, high resistivity. Although donor or acceptor impurity levels are in the gallium arsenide in quantities which would shift the Fermi level above or below the center of the forbidden band gap, the Fermi level of the intrinsic-appearing gallium arsenide remains near the center of the forbidden band gap. Infrequently, crystals of gallium arsenide, prior to float zoning, will have a high resistivity in the range of 40 to 80 megohm-cm. which could well indicate and support the theory of non-stoichiometry causing high resistivity. Normally, the gallium arsenide is not of sufiiciently high resistivity to be useful as thermo-sensitive or photo-sensitive devices since the energy level is not as large as 0.74 e.v. and the carrier lifetime is too short for good photo-conductors. Therefore it is usually necessary to float zone the material to obtain sufiiciently high resistivity.

In view of the foregoing, it is an obpect of the present invention to provide a method of sensing thermal changes of an environment. Another object is to provide a method of sensing changes in radiant energy.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a gallium arsenide material having a resistivity of about 200 megohm-cm. at room temperature and capable of changing resistivity to 20 kilohm-cm. at a temperature of about 200 C.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a constant current controlling device of gallium arsenide lwhich is sensitive to change in temperature and incident ig t.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent as the following detailed description becomes better understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE lillustrates the change in resistance with temperature change of the intrinsic-appearing gallium arsenide material of the present invention having eight different temperature excursions plotted thereon;

FIGURE 2 illustrates the change in resistance of a device made from intrinsic-appearing gallium arsenide material with respect to change in absolute temperature after cycles of various temperature excursions;

FIGURE 3 schematically illustrates a constant current control device with a gallium arsenide intrinsic-appear- 'ing bar as a photoresistor.

Although any known technique may be used for forming suitable gallium arsenide to make the intrinsic-appearing gallium arsenide of the present invention, a specific example of a method of making the gallium arsenide to be float zoned will now be presented.

EXAMPLE I About 250 grams of gallium having a purity of 99.999

graphite boats were heated to 1000 C. for about 15 minutes prior to placing gallium and arsenic therein. This operation served to clean the graphite boats of impurities. The graphite boat containing gallium was placed at one end of an ampule or bomb tube and the boat containing arsenic at the other end so that each end of the ampule or tube could be maintained at a different temperature. The arsenic located in the ampule was heat treated at 350 C. The ampule or tube was then evacuated and sealed. It should be appreciated that the arsenic could be placed in the bomb tube directly and not in a carbon boat. The section of the tube wherein the gallium was located was heated to 1240 C. and the arsenic area of the tube was heated to 600 C. and maintained at these respective temperatures for approximately 5 hours so that the compound semiconductor gallium arsenide could form. The gallium arsenide was allowed to freeze from one end to the other at a rate of about 1 inch per hour. The first frozen end was cut off and sized to about .3 X .3 X 5 inches'for later float zoning.

The gallium arsenide bar cut to the dimensions above was etched with a solution of 1 part HCl to 2 parts nitric acid diluted 50-50 with Water. The bar was rinsed and air-dried at 150 C. for about 30 minutes. This bar was then placed in a tube with excess arsenic, and the tube was then evacuated and sealed. A molten zone was established at the top of the arsenic bar and the arsenic vapor pressure within the tube was supplied and controlled by maintaining an arsenic boiler at 575 C. Five molten passes were made through the sample of gallium arsenide after which time a gallium arsenide single crystal was mounted on top of the sample and six more zone passes were made down through the sample to obtain a single crystal of gallium arsenide. v

A resistivity measuring sample was cut from the top portion of the float zoned crystal about .23 x .38 x .12 cm. Resistivity measurements were made at various temperatures from 77 K. to 703 K. The resistivity ranged from a high at 77 K. of 12.9 X 10 to a low at 703 K. of 134x 10 ohm cm.

Table I below contains data for resistivity at various temperatures recorded on the gallium arsenide compound prepared above.

Table I Temperature Resistivity, ohm-cm. 0. K.

23 296 39. 8X10 0 430 703 1 34Xl0 3 425 698 1 61X10 3 420 693 l 07 l0 3 410 683 8. 0X10 2 400 673 5 35x10 2 390 663 2 67 10 3 370 643 2 95 l0 3 360 633 3 22x10 3 350 623 4 28 (10 3 340 613 5. 1X10 3 330 603 5 98Xl0 3 320 593 7 12x10 3 310 583 7 7X10 3 300 573 8. 4X10 3 280 653 9 88 l0 3 260 533 2 11 10 4 240 513 3 98x10 4 220 493 6 92X10 4 200 473 1 25 10 5 180 453 2 08X10 5 160 433 2 63x10 5 140 413 3 x10 5 120 393 4 15 l5 5 The resistivity measurements are made by the two point probe method wherein contacts were placed on the surface of the wafer or bar at a given spacing for which the length to cross-sectional area ratio is determined.

In this method current is passed through the bar and the voltage drop between the probes is determined from which resistivity can be obtained by multiplying the cross-sectional area to distance between probe ratio by the voltage divided by the current.

Another bar of gallium arsenide was prepared by tech,-

niques similar to the ones employed in Example I, and the gallium arsenide Example 11 resistivity with temperature data is contained in Table II.

Example 111, another gallium arsenide temperature dependent element was made in a manner similar to those made in Examples I and 11 above. This element was subjected to repeated temperature cycles to determine the reproducibility of the resistivity at a specific temperature. The results for 8 cycles are contained in Table 111 whereas the resistivity versus temperature measured after 10 cycles is contained in Table IV. Tables I11 and 1V contain columns where the value is a reciprocal of temperature 10" and conductivityx 10 Table III Temperature Run No. Resistivity, Conductivity,

ohm-cm. mhosXlO K. 10 K.

1 5x10 518 1. 93 2X10 2x10 526 1. 90 5X16 1x10 536 1.87 1X10 2 10 593 1. 69 5X10 1 10 626 1. 60 1 10 5X10 665 1. 50 2x10 2X10 724 1. 38 5x10 1. 5X10 740 1. 35 6. 7x10 1x10 785 1. 27 1X16 8X10 823 1. 22 1 2X10 7X10 834 1.20 1 4X10 2 9X10 771 1. 30 1 1X10 1x10 759 1. 32 1x10 1 5 10 721 1.39 6 7X10 2 10 690 1. 43 5x10 8X10 609 1. 64 1 2X10 5X10 543 1. 84 2x10 2x10 487 2.05 5x10 5x10 467 2.14 2X10 1 10 449 2. 23 1 10 2X10 433 2. 31 5X10 3 2X10 4 .4 2. 25 5X10 5X10 559 1. 79 2 1O 2X10 593 1. 69 5x10 1x16 762 1. 31 1x10 2X10 693 1. 44 5X10 1 10 756 1. 32 1X10 6X10 817 1.22 1 6X10 4 h 2 1O 700 1. 43 5x10 5 1X10 628 1. 59 lxlo 3X10 557 1.80 2X10 2X10 707 1. 41 5X10 8x10 800 1. 25 1. 2x10 6 1O 833 1. 20 1. 6 10 7 7x10 818 1. 22 1. 4x10 6x10 835 1. 20 1. 6X10 8 1 X16 736 1.36 6.7)(10 1x10 770 1. 30 1x10 8X10 796 1. 26 1. 2X10 6X10 838 1. 20 1. 6X10 Table l V Temperature 7 Run No. Resistivity, Conductivity,

ohm-cm. mhos 10 K. 10 K.

1 5X10 445 2. 25 6. 7X10 1X10= 455 2. 20 1X10 5X10 47 2.12 2X10 4X10 485 2. 06 2. 5X10 3X10 489 2. 04 3. 3X10 2X10 495 2. 02 5X10 1 5X10 509 1. 96 6. 7X10 1X10 524 1. 91 1X10 5X10 549 1. 82 2x10 3X10 563 1. 78 3. 3X10 2 2X10 578 1. 73 5X10 1. 5X10 587 1.70 6. 7X10 1X10 60 1 1. 66 1X10 5X10 6 10 1. 56 2X10 3X10 671 1. 49 3. 3X10 2X10 692 1. 45 5X10 1 5X10 727 1. 38 6. 7X10 1X10 765 1. 31 1X10 7X10 789 1. 27 1. 4X10 6X10 807 1. 24 1. 6X10 6. 0X10 781 1.28 1.6)(10 7X10 762 1. 31 1. 4X10 1X10 7 A 1. 35 1X10" 1. 5X10 699 1. 43 6. 7x10 2X10 676 1. 48 5X10 3X10 045 1. 55 3. 3X10 5X10 623 1. 61 2X10= 1x10 590 1. 70 1X10 1. 5X10 573 1. 75 6 7x10 2X10 563 1. 78 5 l0 3X10 548 1.82 3 3X10 5X10 536 1. 87 2X10 1X10 512 1. 1X10 1. 5X10 502 1. 99 6. 7X10 2X10 492 2.03 5X10 3x10 482 2. 07 3. 3X10 5x10 405 2. 15 2X10 1X10 447 2. 24 1X10 To illustrate the linearity of the thermo-sensitive gallium arsenide elements a factor of reciprocal of absolute temperaturex 10 is plotted as an abscissa and the log of conductivi-tyXlO is. plotted as ordinate. FIGURES 1 and 2 illustratethe linearity of the thermistor through 8 temperature cycles and 10 temperature cycles, respectively.

EXAMPLE IV Table V Temperature Resistivity, Free Electrons,

ohms-em. carriers/cc.

105 9. 03x10 5. 54X10 152 8. 04 10 6. 24X10 200 1. 0l 10 4. 85x10" The activation energy of the trapping level was about 0.74 e.v. for Example 1V.

FIGURE 3 illustrates the gallium arsenide element utilized as a photoresistor in an apparatus for maintaining a constant current through a load resistance. The gallium arsenide hotoresistor 1 is located in series with a load resistance '2 varying from a nominal amount to 200 megohms and a resistor 3. Photoresistor 1 is further coupled to an adjustable current source consisting of 6 /2 volt battery 4 with a K. potentiometer 5 across it, and a 100 K. resistor 3 in series with the potentiometer output. The other side of the gallium arsenide hotoresistor 1 is coupled to a power source 6. A transistor emitter follower 20 has the base lead 21 connected between the resistor 3 and the load resistance 2 the collector connected to a 6-volt D.'C. supply and the emitter grounded through resistor 24. The output of transistor 20 is taken from the emitter resistor 24 and coupled into a transistor chopper 30. The output of the transistor chopper is an AC. error signal 33 which is suitably amplified by voltage amplifier 34, and the output of the voltage amplifier 34 is coupled into a power amplifier 35 which is used to drive lamp 40. In ope-ration the load current is balanced againsta set current provided by the current source comprised by battery 4, potentiometer 5, and resistor 3. If the load resistance 2 changes causing an unbalance current, the base 21 of the transistor emitter follower 20 follows the unbalance current creating an error voltage across the emitter follower resistor 24 developing a DC. error signal which is coupled to the transistor chopper 30 to increase or decrease the AC. error signal 33. This A.C. error signal is amplified by voltage amplifier 34 and power amplifier 35 and thereby increases or decreases the intensity of the light 40 which is focused on the photo resistor 1. Increasing light intensity on the photoresistor 1 causes it to undergo a decrease in resistance and decreasing light intensity causes it to increase the resistance of photoresistor 1. photoresistor 1 and the load resistor 2 is maintained at a constant amount.

As an example of the light sensitivity of gallium arsenide material, the gallium arsenide thermistor in Example I was utilized as the photoresistor in the heretofore described ci-r-cuit. In order to obtain wide variations in load resistance a second gallium arsenide thermistor unit was used which was photo sensitive. This unit was capable of varying in resistance from 140 megohms with room light to .36 meg-ohm under light from a microscope lamp manufactured by Bausch and Lomb, Type 3183-110 at a distance from the lamp to sample of 15 inches and 110 volts operating the light. By various supply voltage settings, the resistivity was varied over the range indicated. The results of varying the load resistance established at 10, 20, and 40 micro amps is contained in Table VI following:

Table VI Load Resist- Load Current,

ance, ohms amps 1. et 10 1X10- 1. 4 1O 1X10- 1. 1X10 1. 01 10- 44x10 1. 03 10- 16 10 1. 04 10- 08 10 1. 04x10- 04x10 1. 04x10- 036 10 1. 04 (10- 0036 10 1. 04X10 1. 4X10 1. come- 1. 04X10- 44 l0 2. o0 10- .16X 2. 03x10- 08 l0 2. 03x10- 003G 1O 2. 03X10- 44x10 2. 01 1o .16 10 4. 00 1o- 08 10 4. 01X10- .04 10 4. 02 10- 086 10 4. 02x10- 0036 10 4. 04 10- 16 10 4. 01 10- It should be appreciated that even though temperature affects the resistivity of the gallium arsenide photoresistor 1, it is unnecessary to provide a compensation in the current controlling circuit forthis phenomenon inasmuch as ing further control to maintain a constant current.

In this manner the total resistance of any reason for load resistance change or an effective total change in resistivity including the gallium arsenide photoresistor would merely tend to change the current through the load which would be detected as an error signal and fed to the gallium arsenide photoresistor as an increase or decrease in light intensity thus compensating the resistivity of the controlled gallium arsenide photoresistor 1 provid- Such results obviously can be understood by studying the data which was conducted with no particular attempt at controlling the temperature.

One of the more important uses for the current controlling gallium arsenide photoresistor and thermistor device in circuits is to make Hall efiect and resistivity measurements on materials which have extremely high resistivity at room temperature and below, and whose resistivity decreases rapidly as the temperature is increased. An example of the type material for which resistivity and Hall efiect measurements are desired is gallium arsenide which according to the data and the tables presented in the specification herein varies in resistivity from as much as 200 megohms at room temperature to 20,000 0hms at 225 C. It will be appreciated that, first of all, it will be necessary to control the current through a sample during the measurements for Hall effect and resistivity as the temperature is being varied. Furthermore, a rather high voltage will be required to obtain a reasonable sample current at lower temperatures. It is desirable to have a sample current of at least 10- ampere for the measurements, therefore, a voltage source of at least 2,000 volts is indicated. This is one feature of the gallium arsenide photoresistor, that it has the ability to withstand extremely high voltages without breakdown.

It should be appreciated that many modifications and changes will become readily apparent to those skilled in art art from the teachings contained herein, and such changes and modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention which is limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of sensing thermal changes of an environment comprising the steps of subjecting a gallium arsenide element having an energy level of about half the forbidden band gap width to an environment undergoing thermal changes, and detecting resistivity changes of said gallium arsenide element effected by said thermal changes.

2. A method of sensing changes in radiant energy comprising the steps of exposing a gallium arsenide element having an energy level of about half the forbidden band gap width to radiant energy changes and detecting resistivity changes of said element effected by said radiant energy changes.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,706,790 4/55 Jacobs 252501 2,776,367 1/57 Lehovec 8861 2,830,239 4/58 Jenny 317-237 2,850,688 9/58 Silvey 317237 2,871,330 l/59 Collins 25250l 2,987,959 6/61 Kirnmel 317-237 3,024,695 3/62 Nisbet 250-211 3,029,353 4/62 Gold 2502l1 3,092,998 6/63 Barton 73 -362 3,105,906 10/63 Shultz et a1. 25262.3

ISAAC LISANN, Primary Examiner. LOUIS R. PRINCE, Examiner, 

1. A METHOD OF SENSING THERMAL CHANGS OF AN ENVIRONMENT COMPRISING THE STEPS OF SUBJECTING A GALLIUM ARSENIDE ELEMENT HAVING AN ENERGY LEVEL OF AOBUT HALF THE FORBIDDEN BAND GAP WIDTH TO AN ENVIRONMENT UNDERGOING THERMAL CHANGES, AND DETACTING RESISTIVITY CHANGES OF SAID GALLIUM ARSENIDE ELEMENT EFFECTED BY SAID THERMAL CHANGES. 